Hacker News API vs The Guardian Open Platform
Category: News · Updated August 2026
Hacker News API has a more generous free tier (Unlimited, no key, no credit card) and requires no API key, making it the easier choice for getting started. Both show similar reliability — Hacker News API at 100% uptime and The Guardian Open Platform at 100% uptime over 30 days. Pick Hacker News API for hobby projects; consider The Guardian Open Platform if you need its specific feature set.
Side-by-side comparison
Hacker News API
Official Firebase-based Hacker News API providing real-time access to stories, comments, jobs, and user data.
| Status | 🟢 Online |
| 30-day uptime | 100% |
| Response time | 70 ms |
| Free tier | Unlimited, no key, no credit card |
| Auth | No key required |
| Tier score | 1.0 — no friction |
The Guardian Open Platform
Official Guardian API providing access to over 2 million articles with full text, tags, and section filtering.
| Status | 🟢 Online |
| 30-day uptime | 100% |
| Response time | 702 ms |
| Free tier | 500 calls/day, free key, no credit card (test key available) |
| Auth | API key |
| Tier score | 0.7 — free key, no card |
Which to choose?
- Pick Hacker News API if…you want zero friction — no account, no key, just call the endpoint. Also good if news data without signup is a hard requirement.
- Pick The Guardian Open Platform if…its feature set (500 calls/day, free key, no credit card (test key available)) fits your request volume and you're comfortable with a free API key.
- Use both if…one goes down — they serve the same news use case from different data sources, so you can implement a quick fallback.
Or use these alternatives
Other top-ranked News APIs you might consider:
- Wikipedia REST API — 🟢 Online · Unlimited, no key, must set User-Agent
- Lobste.rs API — 🟢 Online · Unlimited, no key, no credit card
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Hacker News API or The Guardian Open Platform more reliable?
Both Hacker News API and The Guardian Open Platform show identical 30-day uptime (100%) in our monitoring. Either is a safe choice from a reliability standpoint.
Which one has a more generous free tier — Hacker News API or The Guardian Open Platform?
Hacker News API has a more generous free tier. Its plan offers Unlimited, no key, no credit card vs The Guardian Open Platform's 500 calls/day, free key, no credit card (test key available). Hacker News API also requires no API key at all, making onboarding instant.
Can I use Hacker News API and The Guardian Open Platform together?
Yes, and it's straightforward. Hacker News API needs no key, while The Guardian Open Platform needs a free registration. You can use one as primary and the other as fallback without significant complexity.
What's the cheapest paid alternative if both Hacker News API and The Guardian Open Platform fail?
If you need a paid fallback, Guardian Commercial API is one of the more affordable options (contact sales). You can find the full list of paid alternatives on each API's detail page. Paid tiers typically offer SLA guarantees, higher rate limits, and dedicated support.
See full profiles: Hacker News API · The Guardian Open Platform · All News APIs